


A Walk in the Woods

by Bookworm1063



Series: CO Countdown 2020 [3]
Category: Carry On Series - Rainbow Rowell
Genre: Carry On Countdown (Simon Snow), M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-27
Updated: 2020-11-27
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:39:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27744607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bookworm1063/pseuds/Bookworm1063
Summary: “I know you’re here,” I say. “You can come out.”Baz steps out from behind a tree, smiling. “Snow. You can put the stake away.”I leave the stake in my belt and move to Baz’s side, taking his hand. It’s cold, as usual.On his way to visit the Bunce family, Simon's secret vampire boyfriend is attacked by a werewolf.
Relationships: Penelope Bunce & Simon Snow, Tyrannus Basilton "Baz" Pitch/Simon Snow
Series: CO Countdown 2020 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2026988
Comments: 2
Kudos: 45
Collections: Carry On Countdown 2020





	A Walk in the Woods

**Author's Note:**

> This started as a Little Red Riding Hood retelling/AU. I have no idea what happened.   
> tw for not-super-graphic injuries and some blood.

The path to Penelope’s house winds through the Wavering Wood. I’ve been this way a hundred times, bringing Mum’s fresh-baked bread and cheese to the Bunces.

“Simon,” my mother, Lucy, always says. “Stay on the path, won’t you? And watch out for vampires.”

Today, the woods are quiet. Nothing moves except for me and the occasional sparrow.

I’m almost halfway to the Bunces, the basket swinging from my arm, when I _feel_ something—or someone—watching me.

I spin around, my hand going to the sharpened wooden stake Mum makes me carry, just in case. But there’s nothing there.

“I know you’re here,” I say. “You can come out.”

Baz steps out from behind a tree, smiling. “Snow. You can put the stake away.”

I leave the stake in my belt and move to Baz’s side, taking his hand. It’s cold, as usual.

He bends down to kiss me. After a few minutes, I pull away and tug him after me. He falls into step beside me on the path.

The first time I met Baz, I’d been in these same woods, walking this same path. I’d known something was following me, but I hadn’t been expecting a vampire. Just like the ones from Mum’s stories. I’d almost killed him that day. 

Now, he finds me whenever I take food to the Bunces. If he came into the village, they’d try to stake him.

“How’s your family?” I ask.

“Good,” Baz says. “I saw them yesterday. Mordelia’s leaving for Watford Magic Academy in a month.”

“Wow,” I say. “I always wanted to go to the Academy. Mum could never afford it.”

“I never went, either,” Baz says. “They don’t take vampires.”

We’re just passing the oak grove that marks the halfway point between the village and the Bunces’ cottage, deep in the Wavering Wood. I’ve never entered the grove. Baz and my Mum both agree that the fey who live there love making humans’ lives miserable.

Up ahead of us, just past the grove, something growls.

Baz and I both freeze. His nostrils flare, and his hand tightens around mine.

_“Wolf,”_ he whispers.

Baz shoves me behind him as the wolf emerges from the trees. I trip over a root, and my basket goes flying. Bread and cheese spills out onto the path.

Baz bends his knees slightly, getting ready to spring. The wolf snarls, baring its teeth.

For a moment, I think maybe the wolf will back away. The only casualty will be the food. Baz and I can continue on to the Bunces’, and he’ll wait for me while I go inside. I’ll tell Penny I dropped the basket. Baz will walk me most of the way home.

Instead, the wolf lunges.

Baz collides with it in midair, keeping it away from me. The two of them roll across the forest floor, snarling. The wolf’s teeth and claws flash, but Baz is too quick for it.

I scramble to my feet. Baz springs away from the wolf, landing a few feet in front of me.

“Baz,” I say. He glances back at me, checking to make sure I’m alright, even though the wolf never got near me.

The wolf lunges.

This time, Baz is too slow. The wolf sinks its teeth into the side of his neck and shoulder.

Baz stumbles, but he doesn’t fall. He rips the wolf’s jaws away from him and sends the wolf flying backwards. The wolf snarls and turns, sprinting into the trees.

I take a step forward. Baz is a vampire. Baz heals faster than I do. Baz will be fine. The blood soaking his tunic doesn’t matter.

Baz collapses to his knees. One hand claws weakly at his shoulder. I run to his side.

“Simon,” he whispers. “Simon. Are you—are you hurt—”

“Baz,” I say. “Don’t worry about me. What’s wrong? Do you need blood? I can…” I start to roll up my sleeve, but Baz shakes his head. He’s leaning against me now, unable to keep himself upright.

“No!” he wheezes. “No. I won’t—that won’t help.”

“Then what?” I ask.

Baz shakes his head. “Werewolf,” he says. “It was a werewolf. The bite is poisonous to vampires.” 

“No,” I whisper. “No, there has to be… an antidote, or something!”

Baz doesn’t answer. He’s passed out. Under my hands, the wound is red and enflamed. I’ve never felt Baz’s skin warm before.

My house might be a little bit closer, but I’ll never get Baz through the village safely. They’ll take him from me and burn him alive. If he doesn’t die before then.

He won’t die. I won’t allow it.

I pull Baz’s arm over my shoulders. His blood soaks into my side. I leave the basket where it fell and start down the path, pulling Baz with me.

Baz flickers in and out of consciousness the whole way to the Bunces’ cottage. Each time, he passes out again a little sooner, and the things he says are a little less coherent.

“Simon,” he says. We’re most of the way to the cottage now. “Simon, where are we?”

“Getting help,” I say. “Hold on, Baz. Please.”

“I love you,” he says. I feel his head, lolling against my neck.

“I love you too,” I say, but he’s already out again.

The Bunce Cottage appears up ahead. I don’t even have the energy to be relieved.

I kick the front door, unwilling to put Baz down for even a moment. I don’t think I could pick him up again.

Penny opens the door and gasps. “Simon—you’re bleeding!”

“It’s not me.” I push past her into the cottage. She stumbles after me as I shove open the door to Penny’s bedroom and set Baz down on the bed.

“Simon, that’s a vampire.”

“I noticed,” I growl. “He needs help.” I peel Baz’s tunic away from the wound and gasp. The skin has become swollen and bright red. I touch it and pull my hand away, hissing. It’s hot enough to burn my fingers.

I turn to Penelope. “Please, Penny,” I say. “You’re the only witch who can help me. I think he’s… Please, he can’t die, Pen.”

Penny watches me for a moment. Then she nods and disappears back into the kitchen.

I stay by Baz’s side, holding his hand. It feels like an eternity before Penny comes back, her arms full of bandages, jars of herbs, and containers of clean water.

She dumps it all on a small table next to the bed and practically shoves me out of the way to get a closer look at the wound.

“What did this?” she asks. She’s already reaching for her supplies. “There isn’t much out there that could leave a vampire in this condition.”

“Werewolf,” I say. “It was a werewolf bite.”

“It’s two weeks to the full moon,” Penny mutters. “Probably recently Turned. Okay. Simon, go out to the garden. There’s a plant with silver leaves. Bring me all of it.”

“What?”

“Silver leaves. As much as you can carry. Go!” She shoves me out the bedroom door.

The garden is located in a small courtyard at the center of the house, hiding the more magickal plants from human eyes. I see the plant immediately. The leaves are a bright, molten silver, so clear I can see my reflection in them. I start ripping plants out of the ground.

I take as many as I can carry, and I dump them all on the end of the bed. “Here,” I say. “What else?”

Penny starts tearing the leaves and mashing them into paste in a small wooden bowl. She mixes them with water and shoves the jar into my hands. 

“Get him to drink that,” she says.

I tip the jar against Baz’s lips. He swallows weakly, and his eyes flicker open.

“Baz?” I say.

“Move.” Penny shoves her way past me and glances at the jar in my hand. “He needs to drink all of it.” She shoves the tunic out of the way and starts smearing the paste from the silver leaves across the wound. I help Baz drink the rest of the water. Penny layers bandages over the bite.

“That’s it,” she says. Baz has dropped off back to sleep. I stand at his side, holding his hand. His skin is warm.

“What is that stuff?” I ask.

“Wolfsbane,” Penny says. “It’s the only werewolf antidote I have. And, Simon, I don’t know if it works on vampires.”

I nod. Penny brings me a chair, and I sit by the side of the bed, rubbing circles into the back of his hand. Penny sits down next to me.

“Who is he, Simon?”

How do I answer that question?

“He’s my… Baz is…” I say. “We’re, you know, seeing each other.”

“Oh,” Penny says. _“Oh._ Really, Simon? A vampire?”

“Yeah,” I say. “Penny… what if this doesn’t work?”

Penny takes my other hand. “I don’t know.”

Eventually, Penny forces me to change into one of her brother’s shirts and leaves to sleep in one of the rocking chairs in the other room. Her family has gone to a Coven meeting, and they won’t be back until the day after tomorrow. It’s just the three of us in the cottage—me, Baz, and Penelope.

I stay in my chair next to Baz. Penny offered me one of the empty bedrooms before she left, but I refused. I’m not going to leave him until he wakes up.

He will wake up. He’s going to be fine. 

Eventually, I must fall asleep, because the next thing I know, there’s sunlight filtering in around the bedroom curtains. Someone is rubbing circles into the back of my wrist. The touch is cool and familiar.

_Baz._

I open my eyes. Baz is awake, and watching me. His gray eyes are brighter than usual, and the skin around the side of his neck and shoulder is still flushed red around the edges of the bandages, but he’s awake.

“Simon,” he says. “Are you hurt?”

“Am I—Baz, you almost died!” I say. “Don’t worry about me.”

“Too late,” he whispers. The bedroom door swings open and Penny rushes in. She’s carrying a basket with more jars of wolfsbane and bandages. This morning, she has her purple ring on, the one that lets her cast spells.

“You’re awake,” she says, looking at Baz. “I wasn’t sure the wolfsbane would work.” Penny sets the supplies down on the bed next to me. “Change his bandages, Simon, please.”

I do, and Penny rinses out the wound with water and packs it with more wolfsbane. Baz takes my hand when we’re finished. Penny backs out of the room, closing the door behind her.

“You saved my life,” I say. “Thank you.”

Baz shakes his head. “You don’t need to thank me, Simon.”

“Please don’t ever jump in front of a werewolf for me again, though,” I say. “I really thought you might… I don’t want to have to do this again.”

Baz studies my face for a long moment, then nods. He’s lying, and I know it.

I climb up onto the bed next to him and curl into his side, my head on his good shoulder. He tucks his arm around me.

If Penny comes back again, I don’t know it. Baz and I both fall asleep.


End file.
